RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, July 4: The Jharkhand High Court today gave relief to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by allowing his petition challenging the Ranchi MP-MLA court order that had directed him to appear in person in the court in a defamation case.
A single bench of Justice S.K. Dwivedi passed the order after entertaining Gandhi’s petition filed through the latter’s lawyers Piyush Chitresh and Dipankar Roy.
The court not only exempted Gandhi from personal appearance but also gave direction for no coercion against him.
Now, the court will hear the matter on August 16.
A Ranchi resident and an advocate by profession Pradeep Modi has filed a defamation case against Gandhi for the latter’s statement saying “Sare Modi Chor hai (All Modis are thieves)” at Ranchi’s Morhabadi ground during his Lok Sabha election campaign in 2019. Hearing on this case is going on in the Ranchi MP-MLA court. Earlier, Gandhi had sought exemption from physical appearance under section 205 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) in the lower court, which did not give him relief.
